Climate Change: From Concepts to Action - A Guide for Development Practitioners

According to this publication, climate change poses threats and opportunities to the rural poor. This guide, produced by the Catholic Relief Services (CRS), reviews the evidence of climate change, introduces three strategies for dealing with climate change, and provides concrete ways to help the rural poor adapt. The goal is to consider how to modify and use existing CRS strategies, frameworks, tools, and programmatic responses to ensure that the poor are better equipped to adapt to climate change. The main users of the guide are expected to be CRS leadership, staff, and partners at the country level, though development practitioners and policy makers in general should also find it useful.

The guide was produced to foster skills that enable readers to advance work with communities threatened by climate change so that they can be more resilient in adapting to its risks. The action steps provided are designed to provide a structured and practical approach to developing better projects that include a climate change perspective. Some elements of these action steps consist of analysis that can be undertaken by CRS staff and partners while others involve proactive participation by communities. These approaches share common principles with other community-based development work, with the difference that they prioritise responses to climate change. Practical options for both analytical and participatory approaches are offered. Many development activities that CRS is now taking part in can contribute to mitigating, and adapting to, the consequences of climate change, so it is important to see how this ongoing work can be leveraged to provide even greater benefits to the rural poor.

The guide is divided into 3 parts:

• Part 1: Climate Change: Evidence, Causes, and Trends - Reviews some fundamental concepts that provide a foundation for working with a climate change perspective. It reviews the evidence for climate change, discusses potential causes and describes current understanding of climate change trends.
• Part 2: Strategies to confront climate change - Introduces three broad strategies for dealing with climate change: adaptation to its effects; mitigation to slow the process of climate change; and adoption of climate-smart agriculture.
• Part 3: Taking action to adapt to climate change - Focuses on concrete action to facilitate adaptation to climate change by the rural poor. It aims to foster skills that enable readers to advance work with communities threatened by climate change so that they can be more resilient in adapting to its risks. The action steps provide a structured and practical approach to developing better projects that include a climate change perspective - from analysing the situation to proactively engaging with communities.